Meta-review: Flash

by LE Modesitt, Jr

(Tor, hardback, September 2004.)

Review by Peter D Tillman

This
is a thoughtful, well-done 25th century[1] SF thriller,
set in the same world as 2002's Archform Beauty -- but this one's
better, I thought.

An ex-Marine commando, now an advertising consultant(!), gets caught
up in a web of political intrigue when he accepts a seemingly-innocuous
consulting assignment. In what is (in retrospect) a weak, ad-hoc auctorial
plot-pusher, the ruthless Secret Masters of Earth and Mars decide to
make a patsy of ex-Col. Dr. Jonat deVrai, then murder him. DeVrai turns
out, unsurprisingly, to be both hard to kill and good at turning the
tables on his attackers. Besides having a curiously apposite surname....
<G>

This is all pretty basic, plot-boiling stuff, but Modesitt makes the
book more intriguing by going deeply into his protagonist's life, and
makes 25th century ad-consulting sound pretty interesting. Really. Plus
there's a heavy dose of quotidien details that I (mostly) liked, setting
up some startlingly-effective juxtapositions. On an 'interesting' day,
deVrai's 'To Do' list might read:

1) Get the kids fed and off to school.
2) Make sure Charis practices piano for an hour.
...
7) Blow up Mahmed Kemal, a local ganglord.

There are the customary Modesitt ruminations re what's a good guy to
do if the system won't stop the bad guys? Answer: "Get them before they
get you." DeVrai also gets involved with an unusual police AI and its
attractive cydroid remote, Paula Athene(!), in a clear setup for a sequel
or two. Jonat de Vrai's not quite up to Johan Eschbach, the very resourceful
environmental-economist protagonist in Modesitt's excellent "Tangible
Ghosts" trilogy, but he's cut from similar cloth.

Recommended for Modesitt and political-thriller fans. "A-"

Other opinions:

"Jonat deVrai is an engaging hero, if slow to accept his role. Having
opted (loudly) out of the Marines a decade before, he really thinks
he's gotten past crusading... He's jarred out of complacency in classic
fashion, which is always bad news for anyone close to him..." -- Ernest
Lilley, SF
Revu